Elementary Hindi Hardcover – 10 Jan. 2009

I guess everyone learns differently, but for me the book has been superb. I also purchased the Workbook and the two together are necessary, I would say, if you really want to progress as effectively as possible in your learning journey. I have found the chapters very well structured for progressive learning of Hindi letters, pronunciation, vocab and grammatical principles. Also, I didn’t have any problems with the CD -I loaded it onto iTunes and have found the sound quality absolutely fine and help with my learning of Hindi pronunciation.I’ve learnt a number of languages to a basic level over the years and have found this to be the best book for learning a language out of all I have encountered. If you want to learn Hindi in an in-depth way (ie building up by learning grammatical principles), then I highly recommend this book. If you want to maybe learn for a trip abroad, it may be a little heavy going. I wish all language tutors were like this book. Top marks for what I needed.

While I do agree this is a good method of Hindi my review will be far less stellar than the ones that convinced me to buy it.First be warned that this is a "serious" method of hindi written by a university professor and probably inspired from his classes. It is NOT targeted at the casual learner and is not more adapted for the classroom than for the self learner.The method for example does not use the "crutches" of any romanisation/transliteration system for beginners and only use the devanagari script. Which means the absolute beginner will spend the first 6 lessons learning to read and write before he is exposed to his first dialogue in Hindi....Likewise the method is more focussed on grammatical patterns than on colloquial usage.Nothing wrong with that if you're bookish in your approach to language learning - but is you're more of a hands-on/ communicative person this method will make you very frustrated.What really brings this method down to 2 stars for me is the inexcusable lack of quality of the mp3 recordings.First the sound quality is awful - the voices are blurred by reverberation and background noise. Think of a 1980's amateur tape recording made in a garage and you'll get the idea...(we're in 2014 for heaven's sake!)Second the reading/acting is terrible - The speakers are native but they just drone on without putting any tone or emotion in their delivery.Finally please note that the majority of the recordings can only be used with the workbook (sold separately) and are useless on their own. Out of 140 mp3 files about 30 are usable with the textbook ALL the others are "workbook activities".....This being said there aren't that many usable Hindi methods on the market and none are perfect... so let's say that this is one of the better ones... but still a far, far shot from reaching the quality found for other languages.

Seripo manuale di lingua hindi per tutti gli appassionati e agli interessati a questa lingua incantevole. Si tratta di un manuale dal taglio piuttosto tradizionale e approfondito, che va seguito bene dall'inizio. Ottima la struttura (dialogo/testo, vocabolario, trattazione grammaticale per gradi, esercizi) corredata dal vocabolari, chiavi degli esercizi in fondo al volume. Il cd audio permette l'ascolto e l'esercizio della pronuncia nonché le tonalità della lingua. Esercizio di corredo nel volume dedicato alla pratica (da acquistare separatamente).

Habe mir das Buch vor einigen Wochen gekauft und bin mit meinem Hindi noch immer nicht viel weiter gekommen, da Buch ist zwar sinnvoll inhaltlich aufgebaut (erst das Alphabet, dann Begrüßung usw.) aber es fehlt bei allen Wörtern eine angemessene Lautschrift, was bringt es schließlich einem zu wissen wie man die Begrüßungen schreibt, ohne zu wissen wie man sie korrekt ausspricht, da es auch in Hindi Regeln gibt, dass manchmal einzelne Buchstaben weggelassen werden, manchmal verändert sich ein a zu einem e etc. Nirgendswo wird dies erklärt also kann ich mich jetzt schriftlich wunderbar bei jemandem vorstellen, aber in einem Gespräch bleibe ich trotzdem stumm wie ein Fisch. Also nur kaufen wenn ein Lehrer oder Tandem Partner zur Hand ist.

This program is amazing! I just finished the first lesson and I'm already reading Hindi. What I thought were just odd symbols are now becoming words to me. I'm excited to see how fast I'm going to progress with this. I recommend this book highly. I also suggest you get the Elementary Hindi Workbook with this book. They work so nicely together. Very very impressed!

I think this is a very good book to learn Hindi from, including the Devanagari script. Do also buy the workbook and flash cards. It is certainly one of the best textbooks on Hindi since Fairbanks published his textbook in the 1960s.

the writter and publisher making reader stupind and they are cheeting n providing info, the book inlude CD but inside voice text is not this book, CD content is part their diffrent book" workbook" so why dont you sell as combo.stupid idea of cheating readers and buyers like us.

Great method for people wanting to get into learning Hindi. Needs to be accompanied by a native Hindi speaker but it's the best book I found for my partner to start leaning Hindi.

Well laid out and easy to follow, unlike other books on the market. Not enough practice exercises thoough

the best book if you are a beginner and want to learn Hindi thoroughly and quickly. The structure of the book is very clear and well-thought. It is a pleasure to use it.The exercise book that goes with it helps you to deepen the newly acquired vocabulary and grammar.I have bought other books to study Hindi, but this one is by far the best one!

Excelente livro. Ótima didática, layout e conteúdo impecáveis.

Excellente méthode pour débutants, très claire et progressive. Certaines parties doivent être bien entendu adaptées à un apprenant francophone puisque la méthode est en anglais et s'adresse à des anglophones.

Seller : top notch service! Lightning fast delivery and great customer service!About the book :I have been learning Hindi for a few weeks now with a famous software but found out that I couldn't use it as a reference. In other words, it doesn't replace a proper textbook. This one has been designed by a famous Hindi professor (he authored a dictionary that is about to be published soon) and it is probably the only real textbook that one may find in English language along with R.Snell's books from the "Teach Yoursself" collection.Yet, there some disappointing points about this textbook :1) It is made by a linguist. Which itself would not be a problem if the aim of the textbook was to teach Hindi from a purely descriptive point of view. If you're looking for communication oriented Hindi, then this textbook IS NOT for you. The "dialogs" all seem fake and clearly the academic goal of the book is to make you able to read fluently Hindi but probably not speak it...2) The recordings... I had read it in other reviews so it was no surprise but I was amazed to discover it with my own ears : this textbook was republished in 2009 and yet, the recordings seem to have been made in a garage by amateurs. And this pairs with the voices of the readers! It seems that someone is pointing a gun at them and that they are not understanding what they are saying!! Come on!!Apart from that, it is a great reference and it is most likely to become my first handy reference material for grammar.

First of all, this book cannot be used alone. You also need the workbook, because the CD that comes with the book is for the workbook only. I do not find the CD very useful as the words are spoken quickly with not enough time to repeat them after the speaker. As Hindi asks us to learn a host of new sounds we are not familiar with, hearing the words once and in quick succession does not help me.Second, the book is perfectly suited for people who like to study grammar before learning the language. It systematically covers grammar with practically no practice sentences. You get some practice sentences in the workbook but mostly you have to deduce them from the grammar you studied in the book. As this is not my way of studying a new language, the book is not very useful to me. I would rather have lots of conversations, sentences, and examples and then deduce the grammar myself, maybe with a bit of help from a book. By concentrating on grammar, the book does not give me a feeling for the language. The whole learning process becomes very mechanical.Third, in order to slowly introduce us to the Devanagari script, the authors teach only a few new letters in each chapter, which would be perfect if the words associated were more useful. Instead of using simple everyday words that we can then use in a sentence, we get a host of words that fit the available letters but are not useful for conversation. For example, the first three lessons introduce us to words like faith, lotus, betel leaf, prayer, vomit, together with more useful words. No practice sentences are given. We are then asked to work through the exercises in the workbook. They provide sentences in Devanagari script that we have to translate. That's okay, but of course I have not memorized the long list of words, so I now have to search for those that are actually being used in the sentences.About Devanagari: The authors use Devanagari script only. No transliterations. And the script is introduced a dozen letters a time, which I think is an excellent approach. Those letters are then pronounced, letter by letter, on the CD that comes with the workbook (not with the book).Summary: Although I do not like the book, I gave the book three stars because I believe it can be very useful for people who like a systematic, very orderly and structured approach to language learning. This book and the workbook with CD are the opposite of the Pimsleur approach.I may return to this book at a later point when I have a better command of the language and need additional help with grammar, but for the beginning this book is too frustrating to me.

Exactly as the book says - Elementary Hindi. It's fantastic!When I started, I honestly thought I would never learn the Devanagari script or the pronunciation. It was so bewildering. But this book really makes it simple. It breaks things down and makes everything big and clear. The workbook (separate purchase) is a really great addition for extra practice.Summary:Pros: easy to use, friendly, makes a very intimidating script and pronunciation simple, holds your hand through the journey, fantastic hard cover bookCons: this isn't really a con, but this book won't get you speaking fluent Hindi. It is what it says - Elementary Hindi. I firmly believe that this is the best book to begin with. If you want to get further, I recommend Complete Hindi - but that can be used after this.Final point: get the hard cover book! It's so much easier flicking through pages (which you will do a lot when learning the alphabet)

This is s good Hindi text, but I wish it had more answers so you can check your work. (With the intricacy of a language as Hindi with its alphabet, you need that). I had used Rupert Snell's book on Hindi script and it helped me. This book does cover a lot of area at once. This is not a problem, but in most books, you get into something like "conjoint consonants" later in the book. Delacy explains things well, shows how to write the letters, and he covers few at a time which makes learning easier. This book is well recommended.

Probably a great product, but once you get it and open it up, you find out you need a second workbook to go along with this product to get the full potential. Would have been nice to know from the beginning, or sold together.